Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked out of the Potions room with confusion stained on their faces. Hermione was rubbing her palm and watched in awe as tiny droplets of gold emerged from her fingertips and made small puddles of liquid gold on the cobblestone floor.
Bellatrix emerged in front of the confused seventh years and gave a deathly laugh at the children. “You don’t think that I would let you escape that easily without putting up a fight, would you?” She noticed the puddles that had been crawling their way toward her and she raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Oh? A little liquid gold...draining from the fingertips of a”” she looked at the three children’s hands and finished, “”a mudblood.”
Hermione shoved her hand in her pocket and her face turned from that of a brave Gryffindor to that of a desolate one. She waved her wand at her hand and the draining ceased immediately. Her sadness quickly turned back into bravery as she sent a curse flying into Bellatrix’s direction. The curse skimmed her outer clothing sending a tuft of cloth into the air.
“Is that the best you have?” Bellatrix mocked tossing her wand in the air in a kid-like manner. “You’ll have to do far more than that to even scathe the surface of this witch.” Bellatrix threw her wand at the ceiling and watched as it pierced the surface. “Vinécorthia,” Bellatrix mumbled to herself while casting her scaly hand toward the ceiling. Her wand fell gently back down to her hand and a vine slowly coiled its way down from the ceiling and sunk into the ground below. The cobblestone floor rippled violently below their feet and the vine erupted from the floor and wrapped around Harry’s ankle, throwing him violently to the ground.
Hermione dismissed her friendly reaction of “are you alright” and quickly sent a spell at the vine’s direction. The spell sawed through the vine with ease and Hermione grinned to herself in accomplishment. Harry was freed and slowly steadied himself. An idea popped into Hermione’s head, causing her to react quickly. “Ron, throw me your wand!”
“Why?” Ron asked while in his spell-firing stance.
“Just trust me!” Hermione held out her hand, waiting for the throw to be made.
“Fine.” Ron sighed to himself and threw his wand into Hermione’s awaiting hand.
“Oh no you don’t!” Bellatrix shouted at Hermione who now had Ron’s wand in her grasp. She sent a curse at Hermione who just barely dodged it. A small section of the wall erupted in dust and debris as the curse came in contact with the age-old stone. Hermione was tucked away in a small nick in the corner, safely protected from Bellatrix’s dark magic.
Hermione placed the two wand tips together and muttered a short little chant. The two wands meshed together to form one. She stuck the end of her wand into a small crevice on the wall’s outer coat and rotated Ron’s wand in a clockwise motion. The sense of turning a hand crank intensified after Hermione had made seven full rotations. The two wands split apart and Hermione watched as her wand slithered into the wall’s surface and escaped from view. A small fleck of light was seen swarming through the cracks in this ancient stone. A sudden eruption burst forth through the walls, throwing Bellatrix soaring through the air. A small shriek was heard as Bellatrix slammed into the wall.
Ron ran over to Hermione’s side and grabbed his wand, aiming it in the direction of Bellatrix’s limp body. Harry found his way over to the two and unsteadily pointed his wand in her direction.
“You ” you little . . . devils!” Bellatrix shouted, her voice just barely escaping the cracks in the rubble. “Debrisiné!” A bright brown light erupted through the seams of the stone and ceased immediately after. Everything was still for a few seconds until suddenly a loud BANG reverberated throughout the room. The trio was thrown backwards and Bellatrix was free. “Like I said . . . you didn’t think I’d let you escape that easily now did you?”
Hermione, Ron, and Harry stood their guard and stared at Bellatrix before firing off spell after spell after spell and occasionally threw a curse in there just to add a little excitement to the whole ordeal.
Bellatrix laughed to herself mockingly, “Too easy.” A spell out of nowhere smacked Bellatrix square in her back, knocking her unconscious.
“Dumbledore?” Harry questioned to the headmaster who quickly walked over to Bellatrix’s side.
***
“Remus . . . Remus it’s me. It’s me, Molly.” Molly cried out. “How could you not remember me. We’ve been friends for ”” She calculated in her head quietly to herself, “” for God knows how long! Do you remember anything?”
“What are you talking about?” Remus asked in a gravelly voice.
“Do you remember what happens every full moon?” Molly asked with a worried tone.
“Every full moon? You make it sound like some sort of werewolf problem!” Remus croaked, smiling brightly.
“Oh dear,” Molly whispered to herself, “this could cause trouble.” She thought about what would happen the next full moon when Remus would turn into a werewolf without even knowing it would happen. “I’m Molly Weasley,” she said, trying to bring back any stray memories that may have been left in his head. “You are close friends with Harry Potter ””
“Pish posh!” Remus declared loudly. “That’s absurd! How could I know someone so famous!”
“You remember him? You remember Harry Potter?” Molly asked, her faith in memories becoming stronger by the second.
“Who wouldn’t know him! He’s a legend!” Remus’ drunken personality began to annoy Molly who had been on her knees next to him.
“Can you follow me?” Molly asked doubtfully, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“ ‘Course I can!” Remus stood up and walked to Molly’s side. “Where are we going?”
“To the couch to sit down,” Molly finished lamely. She led Remus to the couch and sat him down. “Remus, do you remember anything at all?”
“Well, I know I’m a wizard!” Remus pointed his wand at a crystal glass bowl that was filled to the brim with water, “Wingardium Leviosa!” He had his wand aimed at the bowl which was hovering a few feet in the air. He looked toward Molly and gave a small smile. The bowl suddenly crashed down loudly onto the floor, water draining through the wooden floorboards.
“Oh dear. This will take longer than I thought,” Molly said to herself.
***
“Dumbledore? How did you know we were down here?” Harry enquired, placing his wand back into his pocket.
“I have my ways.” Dumbledore chuckled and looked at the unconscious Bellatrix with his glistening eyes. “Follow me.” Dumbledore led them through winding passageways and dark halls which soon enough led them straight to Dumbledore’s office. “Honeysuckle yellow,” Dumbledore said. The staircase began to wind upwards with the kids standing on them patiently. The staircase stopped at Dumbledore’s office and they all entered. “I hear you have found another stone.” Dumbledore said serenely while sitting down at his desk.
“We’ve actually found a few more,” Harry added.
“Yes, yes, I’m aware of that, but you found one more stone today?” Dumbledore asked, twiddling his fingers.
“Yes, we did,” Hermione finished, looking at the palms of her hands. “The gold stone.”
“Ahhh. The gold stone. May I see it?” He asked, holding a hand outwards.
Ron nudged Hermione forward. “There it is.” He had a doubtful expression on his face while saying so.
Dumbledore looked at Hermione, his face still as calm as always. “I see. Miss Granger, your palm please.”
Hermione held out her palm and Dumbledore placed his palm on hers. He closed his eyes and began to squeeze Hermione’s hand intently. Hermione’s eyes widened, pain began to sear through her arm but as soon as it had started, it ended. Dumbledore released Hermione from his painful grip and watched as she rubbed her hand furiously. She looked at Dumbledore with a “What-was-that-for?!” look and continued to rub her hand.
Dumbledore began press his hand down on his desk, harder and harder. Suddenly he withdrew his hand and sitting on the desk was the gold stone. It was no longer liquid gold but it was now a stone.
“How’d you do that?!” Ron asked in amazement.
“The gold stone protects itself with its own defense mechanism. In this case, it conceals itself in the body of a seventh year.”
After a while of talking the trio left Dumbledore’s office and walked back to their common room.
“Um, guys,” Hermione said anxiously.
“Yeah?” Both of them said in unison.
Hermione held out her palm and Harry was the only one who reacted. “K.O.S!” Harry shouted. “It is true!”
“It’s the hand that, I suppose, that Dumbledore got the stone from. But Harry, what’s K.O.S.?” Hermione asked.
“K.O.S. is the Knife of Sudane. I dreamt about it when I was asleep for all that time! This is just another thing that is happening!” Harry stared at the letters that were seemingly burned into Hermione’s hand. “Wait. Hold on. Hermione! Check your pockets!”
Hermione felt around in her right pocket and nothing was there. “Check your other pocket!” Harry exclaimed. She checked her left pocket and pulled out a note.
“What’s this?” Hermione asked. “I don’t remember receiving a note from anyone.” Hermione unfolded the note and read it aloud
The Fat Lady
“That’s all it says.” Hermione folded the paper up and before she even could place it in her pocket Harry was on the run to the door. He left the common room and was face to face with the fat lady.
“Password?”
“What do you know about the key?” Harry quickly questioned.
“How do you know about the key?” The fat lady questioned. She shifted in her seat and looked at him with question in her eyes.
“I’m Harry Potter, I know lots of things! Now what do you know about the key?” Harry kept persistent with the same question until she told him everything.
“The key is an ancient artifact that only one person is known to have in their possession ””
“Mrs. Weasley?” Harry asked, trying to stay true to his dream.
“No. The person who is known to have it is actually ” or shall I say was actually . . . Sirius Black. Your godfather. Now that he is dead, it is said he passed it on to you. So you should actually be the one who knows where it is.” Harry felt around in his pockets but found nothing. “Your saying you don’t know where it is? Have you checked everywhere?”
“My trunk!” Harry exclaimed. “Solifare!” The door swung open to reveal Ron and Hermione standing there with expressionless faces. Harry ran up the cobblestone steps and dropped onto his knees in front of his trunk. He opened it up and began to dig through it, but nothing was there. He had emptied his whole trunk and to no avail, had found nothing. He placed the first thing back in the trunk when he noticed that the floor of it was slanted, somewhat in a teeter-totter fashion. He took out the article of clothing and felt around the bottom of it. He found a loose corner and lifted up the wooden floor of his trunk, revealing a large key that had been collecting dust for the past two years. He picked up the key and looked at the small engravings that were on it. K.O.S They were the same symbols that were seen on Hermione’s hand. He put the key in his pocket and filled his trunk back up with all the items that had previously been residing there. Ron entered the room without making a sound.
“Harry? What are you doing?”
“I found the key, it’s been in my trunk this whole time! Now we just have to go down to the dungeons. That’s where the drawer is.” Harry closed his trunk and started to walk down the steps with Ron at his side.
“The dungeons?! What if Snape’s down there?” Ron argued.
“The knife is far more important than losing house points or getting a detention.”
“What do you even need the knife for?” Ron asked while entering the common room.
“That’s what closes the gateway between our world and the other world. This may all be confusing to you right now but please don’t ask questions.” Harry finished while walking over to Hermione.
“Harry, what’s gotten into you?” Hermione asked curiously.
“I found the key. I found the key to get the knife of sudane!” Harry took the key out of his pocket and showed it to her.
“Harry, how did you find this? There’s only one in existence!” Hermione exclaimed while examining the key.
“Sirius passed it down to me I suppose. But that’s not important, we need to get down to the dungeons . . . now.”